DISCLAIMER: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and its characters are the property of NBC and Dick Wolf.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Set after "Loss" sometime but before "Ghost". Also, if you can tell me where I stole the title from I'll send you a shiny new quarter.
CHALLENGE: Submitted as part of the Vampires, Ghosts and Zombies challenge.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.

Darkness had crept in from the east about twenty minutes earlier; sliding around buildings. Olivia watched from the window of her apartment as night rose and daylight faded in the west, releasing itself into a last wash of orange and purple. Dressed in a lavender turtleneck and faded jeans she sat in the chair staring out the window watching night claim the day. She was unsure how she felt. Nervous, expectant, giddy, all those and more churned her stomach, made her grip on the arms of the chair white-knuckled in spite of all of her efforts to relax. She fought the urge to go to the kitchen and pour herself a drink. She wanted to know she was absolutely clear headed when the time came.

The knock came on the door and she threw herself out of the chair toward the knocking. She padded over to the door and undid the deadbolt. Her eye against the peephole then slowly inched open the door. There stood Alex Cabot.

Alex smiled without baring her teeth, a graceful movement of lips. The smile was the same. Little else was. Yes the hair was similar but the bangs were gone and the hair was longer, longer than Olivia had ever remembered seeing it. Gone too was the remembered suit; instead Alex stood in the middle of the hall black boots, legs in jeans, a red silk shirt, and a long black duster over it all. Olivia smiled, drew back the deadbolt and opened the door.

"Aren't you going to invite me in Olivia?"

"Come in, please," she said, not daring to speak her name aloud. She eased open the door further and Alex moved past her into the living room. Olivia shut the door and leaned against it, closing her eyes, fearing that when she opened them it would be someone else standing there or worse, no one standing there at all.

"I'm here Liv, I'm real, I promise." Liv crossed the room and closed the distance between them. Quickly they were kissing, Alex's hand on the back of her neck, Olivia's arms wrapped around Alex's shoulder's, their mouths feeding off each other. When the kissing stopped Liv laid her head on Alex's shoulder.

Alex ran her hand through Olivia's hair and started to whisper to her, "I promised you I would come back Liv, everyday I was gone, and now I'm here we're together and we can be together, forever, if that's what you want." She kissed the top of her head and whispered again, "All you have to do is tell me that you want it and we will never be apart again." She pushed Liv away from her to look her in the eyes and Olivia was crying quietly, tears dangling from her eyelashes. "Yes Alex," she said, "it's what I want, I'm ready.

The light in the room seemed to alter but it was only Alex herself. Her back was ramrod straight and she pushed Liv away from her. Her eyes glowed a brilliant blue, like there were lights inside her eyes, and she smiled, showed her teeth, and her canines were longer, longer than any human being's. "This is what you will become Olivia, look at me and understand that. I've bitten you twice already, one more bite and you will be what I am."

Olivia said nothing but stripped off her turtleneck, the bite marks on her neck no longer hidden. Saying anything seemed to melodramatic so she merely closed the distance between them again and wrapped her arms around Alex. She could feel the tension in Alex's body as she held her, and finally Alex's arms came up to hold her as well. She stretched out her neck to offer herself but Alex took her hand and ran her fingers over the bite marks and Olivia sighed, pushing the air from her lungs as she revelled in her lover's touch. Alex slid her other hand the top of Olivia's jeans and slowly unbuttoned them, pulled down the zipper and pushed them past her hips. She pushed Liv against the nearest wall.

"Alex, what are you doing?"

"Making this as enjoyable as possible."

She pulled the underwear to the floor as she knelt in front of Olivia and spread her thighs. Carefully, worrying not the use her ever-so-sharp teeth she started to lick Olivia, nudging her lips apart. Olivia sighed and tangled her hand in Alex's hair. Alex always did her best to distract her before she bit and tonight would be no exception. She felt the persistent tongue against her clit and started to buck her hips in rhythm with the strokes of Alex's tongue. She had almost forgotten Alex's touch but ever since she returned Alex had done her best to reacquaint her with it, never missing a moment to touch her, caress her, make love to her. Now that she was taking the last step for them to be together, she knew she had thousands of nights like this one ahead of her.

Alex replaced her tongue with her fingers, moving her mouth away from Olivia's clit and licked the inside of her thigh. She could feel the pulse of the femoral artery beneath her tongue and fought the urge to strike right away. She could hear Olivia sighing above her, feel the twitching of her clit against her fingers and wanted to wait, wanted to feel that holy dread of orgasm before she slid her teeth into the hardness of Olivia's thigh. She kept tracing small circles around her clit with her thumb and pushed two fingers inside her as she licked the pulse point in her thigh. Olivia's finger's were all but making knots in her hair and from the depth of her sighs she knew she was close. She rubbed her clit faster and felt the muscles clench around her fingers. It was at that moment she slid her fangs into her thigh and began to suck.

Olivia screamed. The release of the orgasm and the sensation of Alex's teeth inside her was too much and she had to fight to keep her feet. She could feel the great sucking sensation at her leg, a great mouth sucking her down bit by bit. The orgasm's last ripples faded but the sucking continued and she felt her legs start to give way. She slid down the wall, her legs splayed out in front of her and still Alex continued. She released her grip on Alex's hair. She fought to keep her eyes open to see her lover but her eyelids were growing heavier and heavier.

Finally the sucking stopped and she felt Alex's wrist at her mouth. "Drink, Olivia, drink now." And she did, she became the great sucking mouth drinking in Alex's blood from the neat holes in her wrist. The taste was like nothing she had ever felt before. Tangy, metallic, it slid down her throat with ease and she felt her eyes open once more, saw Alex smiling at her. She took her wrist away and wrapped her arms around Olivia, cradling her in her arms, bringing her limp body into her lap.

"So tired," Olivia whispered.

"I know darling, rest for a while, and when you wake up, everything will be quite different."

"Don't want to leave you."

"You're not, I'll be here, holding you the whole time, rest now, let it come and I promise you, you will wake up in my arms." Alex kissed once more, then held the limp body against her chest, feeling Olivia's heartbeat slow, slow further then stop altogether. She would wake in several hours and nothing, no one would ever separate them again.